


hey, pretty stranger

by lumicorez



Category: Original Work
Genre: Air spirits, Elemental Magic, Fairies, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Motorcycles, Multi, Other, Shapeshifters - Freeform, Siblings, Slow Burn, Strangers to Friends, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, air spirits count as that right?, based on 'your text' by sundial, if you dont support neoprns none of my work is for you, nature spirits, snow fairies, some characters use neopronouns, vague time setting tbh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-22 12:47:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30038913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lumicorez/pseuds/lumicorez
Summary: In which an unfinished track causes a stress-induced blizzard, and a stranger enters the library in the middle of it.Who even goes outside during a blizzard?
Relationships: Original Character(s) & Original Character(s), Original Character(s)/Original Character(s)
Kudos: 1





	1. unfinished track

**Author's Note:**

> i'll be listing the pronouns that each character will go by each chapter, which might change depending on said character(s) set of pronouns!
> 
> Bellamy — They / Them  
> Maxwell — He / Him  
> Riyu — She / Her  
> Maxine — She / Her  
> Minzhe — He / They

**Winter**

* * *

Something about this track was wrong; Max didn’t exactly know what _exactly_ about it was wrong, but it didn’t sound right. But his client — a currently faceless streamer, who went by the screen-name Riyu, and someone who he’s streamed with quite often when he wasn’t making music or ice-skating — needed it. Soon. (Well, Riyu had never _said_ that it _needed_ to be soon, but Max didn’t want to disappoint her.)

With a groan, the fairy took out his noise-cancelling headphones and pulled out his phone, opening the messages app and selecting his sister, Maxine.

* * *

**maxwell :** Ayo, Max. I can’t figure out this beat for shit and I’m scared Riyu’s gonna kill me if I make her wait too long.

 **maxine :** max from what u told me abt riyu and from what i got from her streams

 **maxine :** shes chill

 **maxine :** haha get it we’re ice fairies

 **maxwell :** That made zero sense but I appreciate the effort SKDKSKDMSNS

 **maxine :** also guess what i think that track stressed u out so much a fuckin blizzard started lmao

 **maxwell :** Huh

* * *

He looked up and ahead and, sure enough, it was storming (being a snow fairy, this was expected. Though it still frustrated him, obviously). There was _no way_ he could go back home when that was going on outside. ‘Great, what now?’ he thought to himself, pulling his hoodie up and running his hands through his faded pink hair, briefly tugging at the strands.

That is, until the door to the library suddenly opened. The wind was indeed strong enough that it howled, but surely it couldn’t have opened that door, right?

Hesitating, Max looked up and was met with a tall person who was being pulled inside by Minzhe, the current shift’s librarian, while both laughed over something that Max wasn’t too bothered to care about — not that he could hear much of it anyway, Minzhe had forgotten to close the door, so the sounds of the wind drowned out the conversation. Though that didn’t last long, the librarian quickly closed the door once they realized that it was open. Who was that tall person, though? And they have a notebook on them, what’s inside? Or is that a sketchbook? When they both bowed at eachother after ending their conversation, Max put his headphones back on after pulling the hoodie back down and went back to working on the track, though he shot a quick glance above his laptop and there they were again, with a pen and white-out in their hand. Max hated to admit it, but the person in front of him was very stylish. Their facial features were hidden by their long black bangs since they were looking down at the book they’d brought.

A maroon beret sat on their head and they wore a black trench coat over a turtleneck sweater that was the same color as their beret; letting his eyes wander below the table they both sat at, he could see black pinstriped pants and combat boots that were, once again, maroon.

They were way more well-dressed than whatever Max had going on, which was just a zip-up hoodie over a black shirt, old jeans and black Converse sneakers.

But that didn’t matter, he was interested in whatever they were doing with that book. Quickly leaning to the left, he saw that the pen on the person’s hand was being used to write something; more specifically, a poem. Looking back at the screen of his laptop, the fairy pulled out his phone to text his sister once again.

* * *

**maxwell :** Max.

 **maxwell :** Someone’s sitting right in front of me.

 **maxwell :** I saw them talk to Minzhe and from what I saw from afar, they looked like a guy. But I don’t know what they go by so I’ll just use they/them.

 **maxine :** continue

 **maxwell :** I think they’re writing a poem.

 **maxwell :** Which is kinda hot ngl

 **maxine :** ooh a poet boy? cute

 **maxine :** does max have a crush??? 👀

 **maxwell :** Idfk SKFKSKJF

 **maxine :** now stop talkin to me and go get that cute poet boy

* * *

He sent her a thumbs-up emoji before going back to working on the track, finally being satisfied with it and sending it to Riyu after exporting it and saving it, leaning back on the chair he sat on with a relieved sigh while taking off his headphones. Though the blizzard hadn’t stopped; maybe he just needed time to destress, and who knows? Maybe the pretty stranger in front of him could help.

“Are you going to just stare at me while I write?” The stranger spoke before looking up at Max with a smirk, a mixed accent between Seoul and London evident in their voice. Their eyes were sharp but gentle, and invited Max to continue looking into them, as if the person sitting in front of him wouldn’t hurt him. Though he didn’t know that. “Oh, I’m– I’m sorry!” He blurted out, his voice raspy and Australian accent thick from barely talking. The stranger laughed, eyes shaping into crescents as their lips — painted with black lipstick — curled into a smile. “I’m only teasing, I don’t mind if you look.”

“What were you writing…? If you don’t mind me asking...” Max asked, lightly jerking his head at the other man’s book. “Oh, here. You can look. I just… write poems.” So he was right; it _was_ a poetry book. Now that he thought about it, he wouldn’t mind calling them poetry-book-boy, at least until he got their name; it was catchy. Gently taking the book, he opened it to be met with a basic introduction of the stranger in front of him. Maybe he wouldn’t have to call them poetry-book-boy for much longer.

* * *

_This book belongs to Hwang Bellamy_

_Pronouns : He / They / Cloud_

* * *

Circled in regular pencil was the word _They_ , most likely indicating that they were more comfortable with they/them pronouns today. "You have a pretty name, poetry-book-boy.” Max muttered, flipping the page and looking through the stranger's– Bellamy’s poems. “Oh, do I? May I know yours now, then, since you already know mine?” Bellamy’s voice came from behind Max now, and they were looking through books in the fantasy shelf to find one to read. “Baek Maxwell. It’s– it’s common compared to a name like Bellamy, but I still like my name.” He shrugged at the end of his sentence, his eyes following the no-longer stranger as they moved back to the table to sit down. “I like it too,” They smiled, tilting their head and opening the book to read it.

After a few hours of a half-uncomfortable-half-comforting silence, Max had eventually fallen asleep — he himself wasn’t even aware he was that tired — and was gently shaken awake by Bellamy. “Hey; blizzard’s died out, but it’s late. I should walk you home.” They whispered, probably as to not bother the new librarian, who was a little more strict than Minzhe was. “What– No, no, don’t worry about it! I can walk home by myself.” He whispered in return, leaning up and stretching his arms out. “Like I said, it’s late and I don’t want you to get yourself in danger.” The taller man explained calmly, helping the fairy put his laptop and cables in his backpack while the headphones sat around Max’s neck. “Alright, I’m ready.” He nodded, following Bellamy as they both exited the library. “Wait– where do you live again? I don’t believe you told me your address...” They asked, looking over and slightly down at Max with a raised eyebrow and a smile. “Shit, I didn’t. I guess just,,, follow me and _hopefully_ you remember it the next time you decide to walk me home.” He took the other’s hand into his — ignoring the size difference of their hands — and led them to his place. “Before I go, and before Maxine comes and makes fun of me for coming home with a complete stranger,” Max started, before quickly being interrupted by Bellamy asking who this Maxine was. “She’s my sister; should’ve told you about her before.” They both laughed it off before Max regained his composure and handed Bellamy his phone. “Can I get your number? You’re interesting and I wanna know you more.”

“Aw, that’s sweet. Here,” They took his phone and quickly started typing, putting a tornado emoji next to their name when they were done entering a contact name, and handed it back to the smaller man in front of them before handing Max his own phone, letting him enter his contact information on their phone. Once they had exchanged said information, Bellamy left Max alone and walked back to their own place, winking at him before turning around and walking forward. A creak of the front door startled Max, making him turn around to face Maxine, who was grinning widely. “Your freckles are glowing. Who was that guy? Was that the cute poet boy?” The questions were quick, and Max took his time responding to them before going to his room, flopping down on his bed and passing out.

Maxine would take out his stuff from the backpack and would plug it in by morning; she always did. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for reading this! this was a rewritten version of a story i'd started on google docs and never finished and my first work on ao3! i hope you'll enjoy reading this!
> 
> find me on my twitter in case u wanna talk abt my ocs, please read my carrd b4 u follow: https://twitter.com/lumicorez


	2. valkyrie café

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After both Max and Bellamy being clogged with busy schedules, they finally find some time to meet up again and catch up.
> 
> maxwell : Beeeeeeeeella
> 
> bellamy : Yes?
> 
> maxwell : I’m not busy today 👀
> 
> bellamy : Neither am I. What are you hinting at?
> 
> maxwell : I was thinking maybe we could grab something to eat? Or just hang out together today?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have no clue if what i'm writing will come out double-spaced but if at least the story itself does, i will update the first chapter to also be double-spaced! with that in mind, i hope you guys enjoy this chapter! i recommend listening to neon by yukika since its what i imagine would be playing at the café!
> 
> btw i have no idea how the summary function works and im not reposting the twt thread so we'll all suffer <3
> 
> character pronouns:
> 
> Maxwell — He / Him  
> Bellamy — They / Cloud  
> Maxine — She / Her

The next few days passed, and both Max _and_ Bellamy had found themselves way too busy to meet up and talk for real after meeting at the library; Max was busy with music commissions, streaming, and ice-skating tournaments, while Bellamy — who, after texting for a few weeks, had revealed their modelling career, and even sent a few example photos — was busy with photoshoots either in other cities or abroad, sometimes even on fashion shows. Throughout this time, not only did the two of them talked about their elemental abilities — Max had found out Bellamy was an air spirit, while the other found out Max was a snow fairy — but they also managed to call sometimes and update eachother on any changes like a new hair color or something new they’d gotten. Currently, Max had his naturally white hair back and he’d started growing it out into what resembled a mullet and as far as he knew, Bellamy had dyed half of their hair blue and half of it was blonde, and it went down to their chin.

Thankfully, the two of them managed to take a few days off, and Max found this was the perfect opportunity to see Bellamy face-to-face again, and maybe get something together in case they’d want to visit him.

* * *

**maxwell :** Beeeeeeeeella

 **bellamy :** Yes?

 **maxwell :** I’m not busy today 👀

 **bellamy :** Neither am I. What are you hinting at?

 **maxwell :** I was thinking maybe we could grab something to eat? Or just hang out together today?

 **bellamy :** That’d be lovely!

 **maxwell :** Pronouns for today?

 **bellamy :** They / Cloud. Most people don’t understand neopronouns as far as I know so I don’t mind if you use They / Them when talking to someone else about me. ^^

 **maxwell :** Oh, neopronouns! Nice! Mine are still He/Him for today ☺️

 **maxwell :** Uh, where do you wanna meet up at, by the way?

 **bellamy :** A café should be fine. I’ll send you the location once I’m there ^^

 **bellamy :** Btw, I do have a surprise for you.

* * *

Nodding, Max got up from his bed to get dressed with something more presentable than their last meeting’s outfit; a white shirt under a leather jacket and ripped jeans, along with sneakers that had a slight platform to them. After that, all he really did was play some Animal Crossing on his Switch and waited until his phone pinged with a notification.

Once it did, he picked it up to check if it was a text from Bellamy with the location cloud was at and, sure enough, it was. So Max put away his Switch not before saving his progress on New Horizons and let Maxine know he was leaving; she was old enough to be left home alone, the two of them being twins and all, but he recalled the time she freaked out when he’d forgotten to tell her he was leaving to stay at a friend’s party. Never again.

The last thing he did before leaving was grab some earbuds and plug them into his phone, deciding to listen to some music while going over to the location that Bellamy had sent.

 _Valkyrie Café._ Max repeated the name in his head while looking around for any signs that showed said name. Once arriving, he noticed a motorcycle with red details and stickers on the windshield, but paid no mind to it. Inside, the café looked clean and minimalistic, yet it still held its own charm and didn’t feel soulless, not without the little potted plants hanging from the ceiling and the bustling chatter that filled the area, yet not drowning out the soft music that played.

“Over here!” A familiar voice called from one of the booths, the source being Bellamy cloudself who stood up from their seat to wave at him, letting him know where they were at. The height difference wasn’t that big — Bellamy being 6’0” and Max being 5’7” — but it would still take a while for him to get used to it, even from afar. Especially since the other’s all-beige outfit (except for their black dress shoes) consisted of a trench coat — which only made them look _even taller_ than cloud _already_ was, really — over a silk shirt, and dress pants. 

“Jesus- hi,” Max greeted the taller with a soft smile, going over to them and sitting down in front of cloud, who sat down after him and smiled widely enough to crinkle the corner of clouds eyes and scrunch up a little bit of the rose tattooed onto their cheek as they tilted their head, newly-dyed silver hair brushing against their shoulder. “So not only did you let your hair grow out pretty much almost to your shoulders now, you dyed it _silver_ now?” Max checked for confirmation, to which Bellamy nodded with a smile and a small hum. “Nice– Wait, shit. Our orders, I forgot to–”

“Oh, I was waiting for you! I don’t know what you like and I don’t wanna order, for example, tea, and it ends up you _don’t_ like tea.” Bellamy stood up again and headed over to the end of the line at the counter, Max following behind cloud. “Did you do anything new? I forgot to ask, I’m super sorry.” The spirit looked over and slightly down at Max, who nodded after thinking. “Yeah, I’m picking up on baking. If you ever go to my place, I can make you some brownies. If you–”

“I love brownies, what do you mean _if_ I like them?” Cloud beamed, feet lifting a few centimeters off the ground for only a few seconds. “Ah, that's perfect! Then I’ll make you some when you come over someday!” They both smiled at eachother before it was their turn to order, with Bellamy ordering a cherry blossom tea with a strawberry cake-pop and Max ordering a chocolate frappe. When they were told to wait, they went back to their seats at the booth.

“You didn’t bring your poetry book today?” The fairy pointed out, watching as Bellamy stared at the aftermath of last night’s peaceful snow, a solemn look on clouds face when they realized the winter sun would slowly melt the snow as the day would go on. “I _forgot to_ , actually. I went outside then realized how cold it was so I went back to put _these_ on,” They reached into clouds coat pocket and pulled out a pair of black leather gloves, neatly laying them on the table and thanking a waitress when she arrived with their orders and placed them down in front of the two before leaving again. “But yeah, I went back inside and grabbed _these_ ,” Bellamy gestured once again to the gloves. “But completely forgot about my book! And I was planning on showing you the other poems I’d managed to write since our first meeting!” The taller laughed at cloudself before sipping on clouds tea, letting out a noise that sounded a little too much like a purr after swallowing it. “Damn, that’s rough.” Max commented before taking a sip of his own coffee, taking out his phone to text Maxine again.

* * *

**maxwell :** Bellamy forgot their poetry book lmao

 **maxine :** LMAO DUMBASS

* * *

“I texted Maxine and she called you a dumbass, by the way.” He spoke up before putting his phone away, not even having time to look up before hearing Bellamy laugh somewhat loudly, apologizing profusely to anyone who’d heard and looked at the two. “Oh my god, what? Did she really?” They looked at him with a raised eyebrow, tears brimming at clouds eyes from holding in laughter. “Yeah, look!” Max handed the spirit his phone, the other’s hands flying to cover clouds mouth before cloud laughed loudly again. “I like your sister already, she’s funny.”

“And I’m not?”

“You _are_! I didn’t mean to–”

“I’m teasing; we like to say I get it from her, since she’s the older twin.” The fairy shrugged, turning off his phone and putting it away again. “Aren’t you the older twin? I remember you telling me about that…”

“By fifty seconds, yes.”

“Damn, I’m younger than mine by a _minute_ .” Max sulked playfully, looking down at the table with a pout before looking back up with a smile. “Sucks to suck.” Bellamy joked with a shrug, a playful grin spreading across their lips before cloud drank their tea again. “ _Hey_!” He stood up, smiling just as widely before sitting down again and taking the last few sips of his frappe.

Once they had both finished, Bellamy paid for their orders and looked over to Max. “Wanna do anything else? I mean… I already planned this café thing, but I don’t know if you wanna–”

“I wanna go to an arcade.”

“Sounds good to me! I haven’t been to an arcade in a while.”

“Yeah, neither have I. Which is why I wanna go. I know one that’s like ten minutes from now.” Max pulled out his phone again and opened the GPS, showing Bellamy the way to said arcade. “Oh, that’ll be a fast ride!” They beamed, raising their hands and lightly clapping them as cloud tried to memorize the path. “Ride?”

“Yeah, I have a bike.”

“Since _when_??”

“I was gonna get it after graduating from uni, but I moved back to here in Korea with my family before I could, so I got it like two-ish weeks after everything was settled.” Bellamy explained while taking out the keys to the motorcycle from clouds wallet after taking the gloves from the table and putting them on, inserting the key in the engine to ignite it after they sat on the motorcycle; the same one that Max had seen when he first arrived at _Valkyrie Café_ . “Wait, this is _yours_? It looks so fucking badass!!” Max beamed while sitting behind Bellamy and wrapping his arms around their waist. “You said it’d be a fast ride, but how fast?”

“About five minutes, give or take. You holding on?” The air spirit looked in the rear-view mirror to check if Max was ready, smiling fondly when only his hand showed up, giving cloud a thumbs-up before his arm wrapped around their waist again. And off they went.

“How come _I’m_ fitting into the whole ‘bad-boy-biker’ aesthetic more than _you_ are?” Max spoke up, voice slightly muffled as he peeked out onto the rearview mirror, squinting his eyes against the wind. “You have a, uh…” He paused, leaning his forehead against Bellamy’s back to think, though it took him half the trip to think of proper wording. “I don’t even _know_ how to describe that aesthetic you have goin’ on, your outfit looks soft but then your fuckin’ gloves make it look all edgy and shit.”

“Really?” Cloud laughed softly at the fairy’s statement, adjusting their grip on the bike’s handlebars before slowing it to a halt when they approached a red traffic light. Max hummed as a ‘yes’.

Through the last half of the ride, both of them remained silent until the bike stopped at their destination, the only sounds being those of the engine roaring underneath the seat of the motorcycle and the wind as they sped through the city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once again, thank you for reading this chapter! i don't really have much to say for these notes so i'm very sorry hahdjnssnn
> 
> find me on my twitter, read carrd b4 following me: https://twitter.com/lumicorez


End file.
